New state radio project emerges on ashes of failed OWIN plan

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianIn this 2010 photo, workers at a tower near Salem prepare the site for construction of a control building. The site is one of several being used for a new state radio communications system.

Crews will break ground in the coming week on a tower on Chehalem Mountain near Newberg that will carry microwave equipment for a new wireless radio system being built by the state.

The Chehalem site was once meant to be part of a massive network of 300 new towers that the state of Oregon intended to build as part of the $600 million Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network.

But now it's one of only about 30 new towers that will be built as part of a much cheaper and retooled communications network emerging out of the ashes of the troubled OWIN project.

Legislators last month approved the newly rebranded network -- now known simply as the Revised State Radio Project -- and are hopeful that it will no longer serve as yet another example of an expensive government technology project gone awry.

"This is the much more minimalist approach," said Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, who is on a legislative work group overseeing the project. "It has gone from the massive, four-agency, let's-hook-up-the-world-project to a much more strategic plan" that meets the state's basic requirements.

In 2010, legislators moved control of the project from the Oregon State Police to the Oregon Department of Transportation. Amid continuing controversy and a big state budget shortfall, incoming Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to pursue a much cheaper project projected to cost the state $209 million.

Instead of building a huge network of towers, the state will mostly use existing towers already owned by government agencies or private entities. And the system will not blanket the entire state with the most advanced communications technology.

"It's beyond what our pocketbooks can afford," said Tom Lauer, chief of ODOT's major projects branch.

The original project foresaw a "trunked radio" network throughout the entire state that would have allowed a large number of users from any area to be on the system at the same time. It also called for statewide "interoperability," which would have allowed emergency responders from a variety of agencies to communicate with each other. That's been a major concern ever since rescue workers had trouble keeping in contact with each other following the 9/11 attacks in New York.

Now, the project envisions a trunked radio system stretching in an upside-down U shape from Eugene to Portland, through the Gorge and then down the east side of the Cascades to Bend. Interoperability will also be more limited to the higher population areas. Two of the state agencies originally involved with the project -- Corrections and Forestry -- have stepped back and are only minimally involved.

Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, is a former radio station owner familiar with tower construction and maintenance costs who is also on the legislative work group. He said he pushed Lauer and other officials to seek out existing towers, even if they needed to be strengthened or repaired.

"I don't think patrons will recognize any difference in the modified system" as opposed to what was originally envisioned, Huffman said. "I think there were just too many 'Mercedes' parts being used."

By the end of the session, Huffman said, members of the work group were able to convince their fellow legislators that it was safe to proceed with the project, which is needed in part to meet new federal requirements. The state plans to spend $49 million buying new radios for state police and transportation workers in advance of a Jan. 1, 2013 federal deadline for switching to a narrower bandwidth.

It will also spend another $86 million replacing the aging microwave system that provides long-range communications. Other costs include covering the state share of partnership agreements with local governments and the installation of the trunking and interoperability systems.

The state says it had spent $43 million on the project as of June 30. Officials say most of that money went for equipment and engineering work that can be useful on a scaled-down plan. But they concede some of it was money down the drain.

Lauer said the state will continue to be challenged to keep the project under budget, particularly given the existing tower sites that may need a lot of repairs and retrofitting.

Johnson, the state senator from Scappoose, said she feels much more confident that ODOT has a firm hand on the project. But she said it's still much too early to give the new project managers a final grade. "It's an incomplete right now," she said.